Football Matters: Premier League Preview - The European Spots

Goal Keeper

Part 2 of my Premier League Preview

With City, United and Chelsea occupying the top spots I expect Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham to fight for the next three places although they may reach even higher. Trying to put these three in order is even harder that 1st to 3rd was to be fair.

4th – Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs were Leicester's only challengers by the end last season and really should have done better. Once they drew with West Brom and Chelsea the title had gone and so had their fight, so much so that defeats to Southampton and Newcastle United allowed Arsenal to pass them for second place. In Mauricio Pochettino they have a very talented young manager and although the 44 year-old has no trophies to his name as a manager he has shown great development in his time at Espanyol, Southampton and now Tottenham. Perhaps it was the inexperience that let the runner-up spot slip last season but now he has a chance to show his credentials fighting against such great managers as Mourinho, Conte, Guardiola and Klopp. There hasn't been a lot of activity in the transfer market yet for them and after they had such a great season you question if there has to be. They have a core of exciting, promising players like Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Christian Eriksen and Eric Lamella which will only get better with time. A look through the squad below shows the majority of players are 26 and under which on the negative side says they are inexperienced but on the positive side they can grow together into a great team. The signing of Janssen will help with the options up front but they are still light on out and out strikers.

Ins = Vincent Janssen – AZ Alkmaar - £19m, Victor Wanyama – Southampton - £11m Outs = Alex Pritchard – Norwich City - £9m, Grant Ward – Ipswich - £700k, Christopher Paul – QPR – Free, Emmanuel Sonupe – Released, Emmanuel Sonupe – Northampton Town - Free

Loans Out = Federico Fazio – Roma, Filip Lesniak – Slovan Liberec, Dominic Ball – Rotherham United

Squad =

GK – Hugo Lloris – 29 – France 82 caps – 2012 from Olympique Lyon

GK – Michel Vorm – 32 – Netherlands 15 caps – 2014 from Swansea City

RB – Kyle Walker – 26 – England 19 caps – 2009 from Sheffield United

RB – Kieran Trippier – 25 – England – 2015 from Burnley

RB – DeAndre Yedlin – 23 – USA 39 caps – 2015 from Seattle Sounders

LB – Danny Rose – 26 – England 7 caps – 2007 from Leeds United

LB – Ben Davies – 23 – Wales 25 caps – 2014 from Swansea City

CB – Jan Vertonghen – 29 – Belgium 81 caps – 2012 from Ajax CB – Toby Alderweireld – 27 – Belgium 59 caps – 2015 from Atletico Madrid

CB – Kevin Wimmer – 23 – Austria 2 caps – 2015 from 1FC Koln

CM – Victor Wanyama – 25 – Kenya 42 caps – 2016 from Southampton CM – Eric Dier – 22 – England 11 caps – 2014 from Sporting Lisbon

CM – Dele Alli – 20 – England 12 caps – 2015 from Milton Keynes Dons

CM – Mousa Dembele – 29 – Belgium 65 caps – 2012 from Fulham

CM – Ryan Mason – 25 – England 1 cap – Youth product

CM – Nabil Bentaleb -21 – Algeria 19 caps – 2012 from USL Dunkerque (France)

CM – Tom Carroll – 24 – England – Youth product

CM – Harry Winks – 20 – England – Youth product

AM – Christian Eriksen – 24 – Denmark 61 caps – 2013 from Ajax

AM - Josh Onomah – 19 – England – Youth product

RM – Erik Lamela – 24 – Argentina 22 caps – 2013 from AS Roma

LM – Son Heung-Min – 24 – South Korea 48 caps – 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen

LM – Nacer Chadli – 27 – Belgium 32 caps – 2013 from FC Twente

LM – Clinton N'Jie – 22 – Cameroon 15 caps – 2015 from Olympique Lyon

ST – Harry Kane – 23 – England 16 caps – Youth product

ST – Vincent Janssen – 22 – Netherlands 5 caps – 2016 from AZ Alkmaar

5th – Liverpool

Liverpool have had some great managers over the years and Jurgen Klopp has the potential to be included in any top list. The Reds have suffered under the likes of Gerard Houllier, Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers but in Klopp they have a manager with the skill set to win them trophies again. Whether that will one day be the elusive top flight crown which they last won in 1990 is yet to be seen but I think he is the best manager they'd have since they won that title under Kenny Dalglish. The 49 year-old managers honours include two Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund and a Champions League runner-up spot with them in 2013 when they lost to Bayern Munich in the first ever all-German final. They possess plenty of creativity in existing players like Phillippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana and have now added to that with two great signings in Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum. Their back line doesn't look the strongest but Leicester City proved last year you don't need the best players if you're well organised. The striker area could be an issue with Daniel Sturridge injury prone, Danny Ings returning from a long time out and both Christian Benteke and Mario Balotelli expected to leave the club this summer. If they bring in another striker then he could be the difference in where they finish.

Ins = Sadio Mane – Southampton - £35m, Georginio Wijnaldum – Newcastle United - £23m, Loris Karius – Mainz - £5m, Ragnar Klavan – Augsburg - £4m, Alex Manninger – Augsburg – Free, Joel Matip - Schalke Outs = Jordon Ibe – Bournemouth - £15m, Joe Allen – Stoke City - £13m, Martin Skrtel – Fenerbahce – £5m, Jerome Sinclair – Watford - £4m, Brad Smith – Bournemouth - £3m, Lawrence Vigouroux – Swindon Town - £400k, Jordan Rossiter – Rangers - £250k, Sergio Canos – Norwich City - Undisclosed, Kolo Toure – Celtic – Free, Joao Teixeira – FC Porto – Free, Ryan McLaughlin – Oldham Athletic – Free, Samed Yesil - Released

Loans Out = Ryan Kent – Barnsley, Danny Ward – Huddersfield Town, Adam Bogdan – Wigan Athletic, Jon Flanagan – Burnley, Jack Dunn – Morecambe, Allan – Hertha Berlin, Lloyd Jones – Swindon Town

Squad =

GK – Simon Mignolet – 28 – Belgium 17 caps – 2013 from Sunderland GK – Loris Karius – 23 – Germany – 2016 from Mainz 05 GK – Alex Manninger – 39 – Austria 33 caps – 2016 from Augsburg

RB – Nathaniel Clyne – 25 – England 13 caps – 2015 from Southampton

RB - Andre Wisdom – 23 – England – Youth product

RB – Connor Randall – 20 – England – Youth product LB – Alberto Moreno – 24 – Spain 3 caps – 2014 from Sevilla LB – Joe Gomez – 19 – England – 2015 from Charlton Athletic

CB – Mamadou Sakho – 26 – France 28 caps – 2013 from Paris St Germain

CB – Dejan Lovren – 27 – Croatia 31 caps – 2014 from Southampton

CB – Joel Matip – 25 – Cameroon 27 caps – 2016 from Schalke 04

CB – Ragnar Klavan – 30 – Estonia 112 caps – 2016 from Augsburg

CB – Tiago Ilori – 23 – Portugal – 2013 from Sporting Lisbon

CM – Jordan Henderson – 26 – England 26 caps – 2011 from Sunderland

CM – Emre Can – 22 – Germany 7 caps – 2014 from Bayer Leverkusen

CM – Lucas Leiva – 29 – Brazil 24 caps – 2007 from Gremio (Brazil)

CM – Kevin Stewart – 22 – England – 2014 from Tottenham Hotspur

CM – Marko Grujic – 20 – Serbia 3 caps – 2016 from Red Star Belgrade

CM – Pedro Chirivella – 19 – Spain – 2013 from Valencia

AM – Phillippe Coutinho – 24 – Brazil 17 caps – 2013 from Inter Milan

AM – Roberto Firmino – 24 – Brazil 11 caps – 2015 from Hoffenheim

AM - Georginio Wijnaldum – 25 – Netherlands 30 caps – 2016 from Newcastle United

AM – Adam Lallana – 28 – England 26 caps – 2014 from Southampton

AM – Cameron Brannagan – 20 – England – Youth product

RM – Sadio Mane – 24 – Senegal 36 caps – 2016 from Southampton

RM – Lazar Markovic – 22 – Serbia 21 caps – 2014 from Benfica

LM – James Milner – 30 – England 61 caps – 2015 from Manchester City

LM – Luis Alberto – 23 – Spain – 2013 from Sevilla

LM – Sheyi Ojo – 19 – England – Youth product

ST – Daniel Sturridge – 26 – England 21 caps – 2013 from Chelsea

ST – Danny Ings – 24 – England 1 cap – 2015 from Burnley ST – Mario Balotelli – 25 – Italy 33 caps – 2014 from AC Milan

ST – Christian Benteke – 25 – Belgium 26 caps – 2015 from Aston Villa

ST – Divock Origi – 21 – Belgium 21 caps – 2014 from Lille

ST – Taiwo Awoniyi – 18 – Nigeria – 2015 from Imperial Soccer Academy (Nigeria)

6th - Arsenal

It seems to be the same story every year for Arsenal and you have to feel for their fans who can see the issues but feel like they are never addressed. For the past two or three years I've said they could be challengers if they had a world class striker and a quality partner for Laurent Koscielny. They also have some talented and creative midfielders but seem to lack either muscle or heart in the middle of the pitch when up against a physical team. Perhaps with a new manager would come new ideas and tactics but Arsene Wenger is still in there doing things his way. It brings the odd cup trophy but not the title that they last won in 2004 and the fans crave still. There also seems to be a reluctance or an inability to spend the same as their rivals, instead preferring to try and sign younger continental players and develop them. That being said they have managed to purchase world class creativity in Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez so it's not a rule that's set in stone.

Ins = Granit Xhaka – Borussia Moenchengladbach - £34m, Rob Holding – Bolton Wanderers - £2m, Takuma Asano – Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Undisclosed Outs = Isaac Hayden – Newcastle United – Undisclosed, Wellington Silva – Fluminense – Undisclosed, Mikel Arteta – Retired, Tomas Rosicky – Released, Mathieu Flamini - Released

Loans Out = Dan Crowley – Oxford United, Jon Toral – Granada, Wojciech Szczesny - Roma

Squad =

GK – Petr Cech – 34 – Czech Republic 124 caps – 2015 from Chelsea

GK – David Ospina – 27 – Colombia 69 caps – 2014 from OGC Nice

GK – Emiliano Martinez – 23 – Argentina – 2010 from Independiente (Argentina)

GK – Matt Macey – 21 – England – 2013 from Bristol Rovers

RB – Mathieu Debuchy – 31 – France 27 caps – 2014 from Newcastle United

RB – Hector Bellerin – 21 – Spain 3 caps – 2011 from Barcelona

RB – Calum Chambers – 21 – England 3 caps – 2014 from Southampton

RB – Carl Jenkinson - 24 – England 1 cap – 2011 from Charlton Athletic

LB – Kieran Gibbs – 26 – England 10 caps – Youth product

LB – Nacho Monreal – 30 – Spain 16 caps – 2013 from Malaga

CB – Laurent Koscielny – 30 – France 36 caps – 2010 from Lorient

CB – Gabriel – 25 – Brazil – 2015 from Villareal

CB – Per Mertesacker – 31 – Germany 104 caps – 2011 from Werder Bremen

CB – Rob Holding – 20 – England – 2016 from Bolton Wanderers

CB – Krystian Bielik – 18 – Poland – 2015 from Legia Warsaw

CM – Francis Coquelin – 25 – France – 2008 from Stade Laval

CM – Jack Wilshere – 24 – England 34 caps – Youth product

CM – Aaron Ramsey – 25 – Wales 44 caps – 2008 from Cardiff City

CM – Granit Xhaka – 23 – Switzerland 44 caps – 2016 from Borussia Moenchengladbach

CM – Mohamed Elneny – 24 – Egypt 40 caps – 2016 from Basel

CM – Gedion Zelalem – 19 – USA – 2013 from Olney Rangers (USA)

CM – Jeff Reine-Adelaide – 18 – France – 2015 from Lens

AM – Mesut Ozil – 27 – Germany 79 caps – 2013 from Real Madrid

AM – Santi Cazorla – 31 – Spain 77 caps – 2012 from Malaga

AM – Serge Gnabry – 21 – Germany – 2011 from VFB Stuttgart

RM – Theo Walcott – 27 – England 43 caps – 2006 from Southampton

RM – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 22 – England 24 caps – 2011 from Southampton

LM – Alexis Sanchez – 27 – Chile 101 caps – 2014 from Barcelona

LM – Joel Campbell – 24 – Costa Rica 55 caps – 2011 from Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica)

ST – Olivier Giroud – 29 – France 55 caps – 2012 from Montpellier

ST – Danny Welbeck – 25 – England 34 caps – 2014 from Manchester United

ST – Yaya Sanogo – 23 – France – 2013 from Auxerre

ST – Alex Iwobi – 20 – Nigeria 6 caps – Youth product

ST – Chuba Akpom – 20 – England – Youth product

ST – Takuma Asano – 21 – Japan 5 caps – Sanfrecce Hiroshima